Upstairs, i have a Windows 7 PC with a wireless usb adapter in it (sitecom wl608) that recieves the signal from downstairs.

Is it possible to share that wireless connection with my SGI O2? I have a spare Sitecom wireless router, type: WL-312. I have connected the sitecom router to my O2 (with a network cable) and i can get into the setup (192.168.0.1)

How do i connect with my pc's wireless internet connection? I've tried to read on other forums/obsolete websiteand stuff, but i can't find info anywhere for this setup. And this is the ONLY way i can get internet, i can't get it bywire.

So please,

Can someone point me in the right direction because i'm getting desperate I really want my SGI to connect to theinternet and maybe even into my windows network.

There are a couple of ways that you can proceed. Unfortunately, since your O2 does not directly support wireless networking, you will have to use an ethernet cable to connect your O2 to something which supports "bridging" between wireless hardware and ethernet hardware. Fortunately, your Windows PC supports that, and your Sitecom router does, too, though they do it in two very different ways. (Adrenaline's suggestion is very similar.)

Whether you choose to connect your O2 to your PC or your Sitecom router, you will set up your O2 in the same way: depending on your preferences, you will either configure the O2 to use static IP addressing and routing, or you will configure it to use DHCP addressing with a defined route. (Since you mentioned that you are a network noob, "addressing" means that your O2 has a way of getting a unique "IP" address on your network. Static IP addressing means that *you* manually give your O2 a specific address, and it will use that address forever, unless you manually tell it to use a different address. DHCP addressing means that your O2 will get its IP address and some other stuff dynamically from another system, such as your Zyxel router. "Routing" is how your O2 will know how to connect to things outside your home network, like the Internet. Basically, you need to tell your O2 explicitly to send things meant for the internet to your Zyxel router, which will then handle transferring information between your O2 and the Internet. There are a bunch of how-to guides on the internet that describe configuring O2s to use cable/ADSL modems, and they should work fine for your case.)

Probably the easiest thing for you to do will be to use your PC as a bridge between the Zyxel router's wireless connection and the O2's ethernet connection. The way you would configure your PC varies slightly depending on the version of Windows that you are using, but you can find step-by-step guides by searching the internet for "windows internet connection sharing," or something like that. The connection would look something like this:Zyxel wireless <---> PC Wireless <-> PC Ethernet <---> O2 Ethernet

The biggest disadvantage to using your PC as a bridge is that it needs to be powered on any time you want to use your O2 on the network.

The other option is to configure your Sitecom router as a wireless bridge between your Zyxel router and your O2. This is similar to the PC approach, but it can be trickier to set up, since consumer routers sometimes use non-standard ways to handle bridging. The advantages to using the Sitecom as a bridge instead of your PC are that it is quieter and uses much less power than the PC, so it is more reasonable to leave it on all the time, and that the Sitecom has multiple ethernet ports, so you would be able to plug in other network devices, like printers, etc. Search the net for the Sitecom manual, and you will probably have enough info on enabling "bridge mode" to get started, though you may need to poke around various networking forums to get more detailed instructions for your particular model. Among other things, you will need to supply the Sitecom router with the Zyxel router's wireless SSID and wireless MAC address.

Yeah i looked at that page earlier but its not noobish enough When the tutorial speaks of (for instance) subnetmask of my network, do they meanthe subnetwork of my router? or of my SGI or the pc or the wireless connection?Too many things that are not clear and thats why i don't get it to work.

My setup involves the Sitecom wireless router that sits in between the PC and the SGI,and i can't get it to work.

Skysearcher wrote:My setup involves the Sitecom wireless router that sits in between the PC and the SGI, and i can't get it to work.

You don't want/need the Sitecom router between the PC and the SGI.

Either:(1) connect the O2 **directly to the PC** via ethernet cable and then use Windows Internet Connection Sharing to let the PC "share" its WL-608 USB adapter with the O2,or(2) connect the O2 to the Sitecom WL-312 router via an ethernet cable and then set up the WL-312 to connect to the Zyxel router as a wireless client or bridge. In this case, you don't connect the PC to anything except the existing WL-608 USB adapter.

Skysearcher wrote:My setup involves the Sitecom wireless router that sits in between the PC and the SGI, and i can't get it to work.

You don't want/need the Sitecom router between the PC and the SGI.

Either:(1) connect the O2 **directly to the PC** via ethernet cable and then use Windows Internet Connection Sharing to let the PC "share" its WL-608 USB adapter with the O2,or(2) connect the O2 to the Sitecom WL-312 router via an ethernet cable and then set up the WL-312 to connect to the Zyxel router as a wireless client or bridge. In this case, you don't connect the PC to anything except the existing WL-608 USB adapter.

hmmm maybe you use the wrong cable? im not sure but if using this option, should you use a cross LAN cable? not a straight LAN cable? because you connected your O2 directly to PC, not via router. hope this help

geo wrote:hmmm maybe you use the wrong cable? im not sure but if using this option, should you use a cross LAN cable? not a straight LAN cable? because you connected your O2 directly to PC, not via router. hope this help

Good point. You might need a "crossover" ethernet cable to connect an O2 directly to an older PC, but if the PC is less than five or ten years old, it shouldn't be necessary. Probably by around 2003 or so, most name-brand PCs were shipping with "auto-sensing" ethernet ports. Pretty much everything on the market now is auto-sensing.

josehill wrote: ... since your O2 does not directly support wireless networking ...

There is a way to do that .... I think one of the Z's (Zafter, Zafunk, Zahal ?) did it here, there should be an article ?

Probably a little more esoteric than he wants for a start, tho. Looked like a pretty neat way to do wireless for any SGI with a pci slot.

Nobody makes a wireless receiver - to - ethernet adapter ?

yes, they do ... I set up a few peecees with some D-Link wireless receivers. Worked okay, even in a noisy environment. I was surprised. Little square boxes with an antenna and a cable output and a 'D' on the top. Wireless bridge ?

edit : just checked fleaBay. There are tons of bridges, access points, ethernet adapters for less than twenty dollars. Simple setup. Works good. Go for it. Gettit straight. Whip it, whip it good.

Yeah, a "wireless bridge" will do the job. I used one to connect the media stack in the living room since I'm too lazy to finish my physical wiring. Adrenaline was on the mark with recommending the game console adapters.

hamei is probably thinking of the PCI cards that had a WiFi access point/bridge on board, I remember reading the write-up here. However I think they aren't as common or cheap as the wireless bridges are now, and they were probably only good for 802.11b, or g at best. Nice to have it all-in-one, but...

Just a reminder: the OP mentioned that he had a spare Sitecom WL-312 router on hand. According to its manual, it can be configured to act as a wireless bridge instead of a router. Using either that or the PC's "Internet Connection Sharing," there shouldn't be any need to buy anything.

My bet is that OP doesn't have the O2 configured correctly yet, i.e. the usual DHCP, default route, and subnet issues that a lot of folks who are new to IRIX networking bump into.

geo wrote:hmmm maybe you use the wrong cable? im not sure but if using this option, should you use a cross LAN cable? not a straight LAN cable? because you connected your O2 directly to PC, not via router. hope this help

Good point. You might need a "crossover" ethernet cable to connect an O2 directly to an older PC, but if the PC is less than five or ten years old, it shouldn't be necessary. Probably by around 2003 or so, most name-brand PCs were shipping with "auto-sensing" ethernet ports. Pretty much everything on the market now is auto-sensing.

oh! haha thanks for this jose, i think i need to update my knowledge on latest ethernet ports hehe noted with thanks

yeah i also think the OP just need to setup the O2s network settings correctly then he will be fine

how about we suggest him to setup the spare WL-312 using his PC first and check if he can establish internet connection with this setup:Zyxel wireless <---> Sitecom Wireless <-> Sitecom Ethernet <---> PC Ethernet